What if? Angel loses the Baby Hearts of Time Saga Challenge
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: AU. One of my contributions to my Hearts of Time Saga challenge. Angel loses her baby in an accident, and leaves the Doctor. But what happens when she receives a blue envelope with instructions to go to Utah? Best wishes to LizzeXX.
1. Chapter 1

**One of my submissions for the Hearts of Time Saga challenge put forward by LizzeXX. **

**What if? Angel loses the Baby. **

The Doctor winced as he heard Angel cry. He could feel his hearts breaking. He'd felt odd around Angel since his regeneration, strange little feelings niggling at the back of his mind. All of them centered on the Time Lady, but he'd ignored them, pegged them down to friendship and nothing more. But he'd felt jealousy whenever someone like Rory hugged her, and he hadn't thought about why.

He'd been protective of her, but he'd thought it was because Angel was the only living member of his people left in the universe that it hadn't occurred to him it was something more.

Now he knew the truth.

Angel was his Mate. Not in the friend sense of the word. When Time Lords Mated, it was for life. But the bonds could be broken over time, and right now the Doctor was feeling as if the bond he felt with Angel was breaking. It felt like it. He could feel the pain over the bond as Angel sobbed for losing the baby.

Her baby.

Their baby.

The Doctor hadn't expected that, but Time Lords could only reproduce with others of their kind, and from what he remembered from the stories Angel had told him about how unlucky her family was when it came to pregnancies, it only made him feel worse.

He'd forgotten her. He'd forgotten Angel, his Mate. The one thing in his life that made him feel like a person. How could he have forgotten her?

How?

And now they'd lost their baby, and now the Doctor remembered the mating. Rory had punched him in the face; he felt like he'd deserved it for ignoring Angel and forgetting about her, treating her like dirt. He had no one but himself to blame for this because he'd taken them all to the place where their last adventure had seen Angel injured. She'd been smacked in the abdomen when the blow had been meant for him, but he'd gotten out of the way and it hit her instead, and then she started screaming, and blood started spilling. Rory had kicked him, punched him, shouted at him that Angel had been pregnant, and he'd just killed their baby for landing them in danger all the time.

The Doctor had been numb with shock, and he hadn't believed it until he felt overwhelming agony coming not from him, but from Angel. Then he remembered, he remembered mating with her. And the Doctor could not help but hate the universe for making him remember his beloved mate in the most painful way possible.

* * *

Amy and Rory didn't say anything to him over the next couple of days. Angel had stayed in her room, and refused to come out. For everyone the events had been so shocking they couldn't even speak about it because they didn't know what to say - Amy because she didn't understand what had happened. Deep down Amy had always known there was more between the Doctor and Angel than the Doctor said, but she'd ignored it, acted like whore around him. Amy felt like shit because of how she'd acted, and if she'd thought her guilt over Rory hadn't been bad enough, but she hadn't expected Angel to be pregnant. She hadn't known and the signs had been there for all to see, and she'd ignored the obvious.

Amy had always been jealous of the relationship she'd seen with Angel and Rory, though they were just friends, and Rory seemed to be the only person that Angel would allow near her. When the Doctor had stepped into the room whilst they'd been talking, she'd taken one look at him, and she'd screamed her head off until he'd left, and even then she still cried her eyes out. The sounds only making the Doctor feel much, much worse.

Rory, however, with his relationship with Angel was the exception. He had plenty to say, and none of it was good. The Doctor had already been punched by him for his carelessness, his obliviousness, and his desire to get those around him killed. The Doctor was haunted by the way his adventures scarred those around him; he would forever think back to the days of his Fifth incarnation and how Adric had died, and later Tegan had left.

The cavalier way the Trial in his sixth life had gone, showing how he'd betrayed and abandoned Peri to the likes of the slimy Kiv still made him cry, but he'd never imagined his life like horrifying adventures had hurt his friends, but this time his Mate had paid the price for his recklessness.

Angel appeared, and everyone perked up as she approached the console, but then their eyes took in the bag she was carrying. She refused to meet the Doctor's eyes.

" Angel," he tried to say, but the Time Lady wouldn't look at him. Instead she took something out of her pocket.

" What're you-?" the Doctor started to say, but when he looked at the bracelet in her hand and clipped it on her wrist, he gasped as he felt something in his mind, like he'd lost a part of himself now he was aware of the mating. " No," he gasped. He collapsed to the ground as he realised he'd lost something, that he'd gone too far.

Angel used his distraction to walk to the controls. She started setting the co-ordinates carefully. The TARDIS hummed. Amy, who'd always just thought of the TARDIS as though it was a machine of magic, could've sworn the ship was humming sadly. Like it was alive...

The Doctor stood up, gasping, and he became aware of what Angel was doing. " What're you doing, where are we going?"

" Where am I going, I think you'll find," she corrected him with a look he couldn't identify. The Doctor had seen that expression before, but he'd never imagined it to be in Angel's face. Ever.

Contempt.

" I'm leaving you," Angel said, and she pressed the control to send the TARDIS to its next destination.

" No," the Doctor said.

Angel licked her lips. " I forgave you for forgetting me. But I will never forget how you recklessly provoked the Gli. What were you thinking? You knew they were very sensitive and quick to anger, and yet you just made stupid comments. Because of that the only thing I had left in the whole universe is dead, because of you."

Self hatred gripped the Doctor's hearts when his mind processed what Angel had just said, how she'd described the baby. Not once did she say anything about it being his. Angel just looked away. " I can't forgive you for that. I never want to hear from you ever again. I just want to be left alone, where Daleks, Cybermen, and the other races you enjoy prodding can't touch me."

The TARDIS landed silently, sadly. Angel went over to Rory, ignoring Amy and the Doctor completely. " Goodbye, Rory," she whispered. Rory nodded, sniffing. Angel wrapped him in a gentle hug. " I'll miss you, my companion."

" And I'll miss you too, my pilot," Rory whispered as he held her.

Finally Angel let go. She hadn't wanted to, but she had to get out of the TARDIS.

Oh, that reminded her.

" Bye, girl," she looked up at the ceiling.

The TARDIS groaned.

Angel picked up her things and walked out the door. She didn't look back.

* * *

Angel watched a few months later as a bright yellow bus appeared, driving towards her. She'd gone straight to Jack, who'd helped her through the pain of what'd happened to her baby, though she had needed to stop him from going after the Doctor and making the Time Lord pay.

She watched as Amy got off the bus followed by Rory, both carrying packs, calling to the driver, "Thanks!"

" You're very welcome." The driver replied. Rory looked around and spotted her. " Angel! You're here!"

Angel nodded, and she held up the TARDIS blue envelope. " I got this along with a note. I was tempted not to come to be honest with you."

Rory nodded, not blaming her.

Amy interrupted them. " Hi Angel, how are you?"

Angel smiled at her, but her smile was bittersweet. " I'm fine, Amy."

"Uh! This is it, yeah? The right place?" Amy asked. "Nowhere, middle of? Yeah, this is it." Rory replied. The bus drove away, revealing the Doctor sitting on a red car

"Howdy!" The Doctor called.

" Doctor!" Amy called. The Doctor laughed, "Ha-ha! It's the Ponds!" He jumped off the car hood. " Pond One and Pond Two!" He hugged Amy.

" Hello, Ponds, come here!"

" So someone's been a busy boy then, eh?" the Doctor chuckled. "Did you see me?"

Angel folded her arms, watching him. It was good to see the Doctor again, but she couldn't help but hate him for what he'd done.

Amy was oblivious to what she was feeling of course. " Of course! Stalker!"

" Flirt!" The Doctor joked back.

Rory held up his hand. " Husband."

The Doctor noticed him at last and let go of Amy. " And Rory the Roman! Oh, come here!" He hugged Rory instead. As he hugged Rory he took notice of the fourth person nearby. Angel. He numbly let go of Rory, who was more than happy by the gesture, and licked his lips. Angel's face was impassive. She didn't move to hug him. There was no love in her eyes.

" Hello Angel," he said to break the silence.

" Hello Doctor," she replied distantly. Part of her wanted to hug him, but she couldn't. Images of blood dripping down her legs, her own screaming in her eyes reverberating around her head as she realised her baby had died because the father was a reckless fool. Her hearts had mended themselves, but she knew she would never let herself be touched by the Doctor again. She refused to go through the pain again. She would and could never forgive him for the death of their child. Part of her blamed herself for not trying to remind him of the Mating, and in the end her baby had paid the price. She was never going to let that happen again.

" You got the envelope, then," the Doctor said. He'd been trying to speak to her over the bond for the last few months, but Angel was silent and he doubted she was going to speak to him much anytime soon.

" Yeah," Angel reached into her pocket and took the envelope out. " I was tempted not to bother coming, but something in me said to come. Jack loaned me his vortex manipulator, and I fixed it."

" Jack?" the Doctor asked nervously, ignoring Amy and Rory. " How is he?"

" He wanted to come and beat you up," Angel replied bluntly. " But I persuaded him not to. I'm not staying though, as soon as you get to the point I'm going back home."

Home. The Doctor's hearts panged. Home for Angel had been with him and the TARDIS, but not anymore. The TARDIS hadn't been the same since Angel had left him. She'd taken to throwing him around, tampering with the water and gravity whenever he was tinkering in the console room or in the shower.

Rory interrupted to dispel the tension by changing the subject. "Hey, nice hat." He said, complimenting the Doctor's stetson.

"I wear a Stetson now, Stetsons are cool." The Doctor replied, happy someone had noticed.

A gun fired and the Stetson is blown off the his head. The four of them turned around and saw a figure silhouetted against the sun. The figure moved slightly. Angel sighed when she saw River Song standing there, just as smug and arrogant as ever.

If River had seen Angel, she didn't show it. Instead she blew on the muzzle of her gun. " Hello, sweetie," she cooed.

Rory frowned at the way the woman so blatantly flirted with the Doctor. For himself, the Doctor looked away, and his eyes drifted over to Angel. The Time Lady just looked away, she didn't care anymore.

River smirked though it disappeared quickly when Rory coughed, and she caught his eye.

* * *

Later on the five of them went to a diner, though Angel sat as far away from them as possible. Rory watched her with worry as he and Amy grabbed some Cokes from the counter. The Time Lady sensed his attention, and she gave him a sad but reassuring smile. He wasn't reassured.

In a booth, the Doctor and River sat and compared notes about where they were in each others timestreams. The Doctor kept glancing at Angel but the Time Lady wouldn't look at him.

"Right then, where are we? Have we done Easter Island yet?" River asked, doing her best not to send superior smirks over Angel's way.

"Yes, I've got Easter Island!"

" They worshipped you there! Have you seen the statues?" River asked. Angel rolled her eyes; trust the Doctor to be worshipped whilst their baby had died because of his recklessness. Rory and Amy joined them, Rory passing Angel her bottle.

"Jim the Fish." The Doctor said.

" Oh, Jim the Fish! How is he?" River asked gushingly. Angel was beginning to regret coming, if she had to listen to River's voice one more time...

" Still building his dam." Angel snorted at that reply. The Doctor heard the snort, and sent a smile over to Angel. She looked away, and the Doctor looked down at the diary in his hands sadly. River sipped her Coke, smirking.

" Sorry, what are you two doing?" Rory asked.

Amy replied like she knew everything. "They're both time travellers, so they never meet in the right order. They're syncing their diaries. So what's happening, then? Because you've been up to something."

The Doctor nodded, and he became more sombre, sending a look over Angels way. The Time Lady turned in her seat by the counter so she could pay better attention. "I've been running...faster than I've ever run, and I've been running my whole life. Now it's time for me to stop. And tonight I'm going to need you all with me."

Angel quirked a brow at that, but she didn't say anything.

" OK, we're here, what's up?" Amy asked, leaning forwards. Her eyes were sparkling at the thought of an adventure.

" A picnic!" The Doctor replied. " And then a trip. Somewhere different, somewhere brand-new."

" Where?"

" Space...1969," the Doctor replied with a small smile, though it was tinged with sadness. Angel frowned. What was he doing?

* * *

Angel didn't like the lake. There was something...evil about it, and her time senses could feel the fracture in time around here. It was small and localised, but it was there. What were they doing here when there must've been other lakes? She couldn't help but shiver. Rory saw her shivering, and he wrapped an arm around her.

" What's wrong?"

" I don't like this place," she replied. Rory frowned, but he didn't have time to reply. Everyone else were sitting on a large and very nice picnic blanket, eating cheese, biscuits and drinking wine. Angel was sitting as close to Rory as possible and as far away from the Doctor, River, and Amy as possible. The Doctor toasted, lifting the bottle, " Salut!"

The others raised their glasses. " Salut!"

" So when are we going to 1969?" Rory asked.

" And since when do you drink wine?" Amy asked. Angel didn't say that the Doctor's alcohol tolerance was zero.

" I'm 1,103 - I must have drunk it some time," the Doctor replied to Angel's shock. He took a drink from the bottle and he spat it out. " Oh, wine's horrid! I thought it would taste more like the gums."

" It's been 200 years since I last saw you?" Angel asked, not needing to see the look on River's face. The Doctor caught her eye, and nodded grimly.

" 1,103? You were 908 the last time we saw you." Amy commented.

" You've put on a couple of pounds. I wasn't going to mention it," the Doctor replied with a quick look at Angel that only Rory noticed. The Doctor knew Amy was pregnant, but he didn't say a word of it because of Angel and the memory of her leaving him.

Amy looked up. "Who's that?" she asked staring up at the sand dunes. Rory followed her stare, and he saw no one. "Who's who?"

Amy looked over at Rory, her face frowning. " Sorry, what?"

Rory himself frowned, and sent a look over Angel's way. The Time Lady was staring up at the point where Amy had been staring at, as if she could sense something they couldn't. He looked back at his wife, becoming concerned. "What did you see? You said you saw someone.

"No, I didn't."

The Doctor interrupted. " Ah! The moon, look at it! Of course, you lot did more than look, didn't you? Big silvery thing in the sky, you couldn't resist it. Quite right."

" The moon landing was in '69. Is that where we're going?" Rory asked.

The Doctor looked away. "Oh, a lot more happens in '69 than anyone remembers. Human beings... I thought I'd never get done saving you."

Angel frowned, her sense of foreboding growing. What was he doing?

A pickup truck pulled onto the sand behind them and an older man steps out. The Doctor stood and held up a hand in a wave.

" Who's he?" Amy asked. Just the question on Angel's mind.

Rory and River stood up, they'd seen something else.

"Oh, my God!" River gasped.

Amy stands and looked with the others as an astronaut stood in the lake. Angel frowned, her bad feeling growing.

" You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?" the Doctor said, staring at each of them, looking at Angel the longest before he walked over to the astronaut. Angel watched him go.

" That's an astronaut. That's an Apollo astronaut in the lake. Look."

Everyone watched silently as the Doctor spoke with the astronaut. He then bowed his head as the astronaut raises its arm.

Amy whispered. " What's he doing?"

Angel's eyes flew open. " No!" she screamed, but she was too late. The astronaut fired and the Doctor staggered backwards.

" Doctor!" Amy and Angel shouted. Amy went to rush towards the Doctor but Rory and River held her back.

" Amy! Stay back! The Doctor said stay back!"

Angel wanted to move, but she couldn't. She was paralysed with shock. This was why the Doctor had written to her. He'd known he was going to die, but why...She winced as the astronaut fired again and this time the Doctor fell to his knees.

" No!" Angel shouted and tried to run forwards but River caught her. " You have to stay back!"

Angel caught something in her tone, and she looked into River's eyes. For once since her regeneration and her last meeting with this woman, Angel could see no malice in her eyes. But there was something else there beyond that...

River was broken from the spell of looking into Angel's eyes as Amy shouted, " No!"

But it was too late. Angel's eyes widened in horror as the Doctor stood up as regeneration energy began to waft from his hands.

" Doctor!" Amy called, but Angel's voice was louder. It was full of pain. No, this couldn't be happening...

The Doctor looked over at his friends, staring at each of them. When his eyes caught Angels, he stared at her the longest.

" I'm sorry." The Doctor whispered, though she heard him, and he tilted his head back as the regeneration started. But the astronaut fired again and the Doctor collapsed to the ground.

River screamed. " No! Doctor!" The four run to the Doctor's body as the astronaut slowly walked back into the lake. Angel got there first, and she put a hand on his chest. Wait, there was something odd about it, like it wasn't him...

" Doctor, please!" Amy begged as she and River knelt beside the body and River took her own readings of his vital signs with her handheld device.

" River... River!" Amy pleaded with her, but the device whirred and beeped in the negative. No life signs.

" River...," Amy said. River stood, firing her gun at the astronaut until she ran out of ammunition.

" Of course not," she whispered.

Amy was crying. "River, he can't be dead. This is impossible."

Angel sighed, she had to make her understand. "Whatever that was, it killed him in the middle of his regeneration cycle. His body was already dead. He didn't make it to the next one. He's gone, and there is nothing you can do about it."

" What about you? I thought Mated Time Lords died when their mates died," River said, and this time her voice was curious rather than malicious and sneering, but Angel didn't reply. Amy's sobbing had drawn her attention.

" Maybe he's a clone or a duplicate or something."

The man from the truck had walked down to them during all this, and he drew closer to a stop. He took off his cap in respect for the fallen Doctor.

"I believe I can save you some time," he said soothingly. " That most certainly is the Doctor, and he is most certainly dead. He said you'd need this." He put a can of gasoline on the ground.

Rory looked at it quizzically. " Gasoline?"

River took a breath, and turned to Angel. " Do you want to take this?" she asked gently, but the girl was looking down at the Doctor's body with an expression she couldn't identify. " A Time Lord's body is a miracle. Even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who'd rip this world apart for just one cell. We can't leave him here. Or anywhere."

Amy was stroking the Doctor's face. " Wake up! Go on, wake up, you stupid bloody idiot! What do we do, Rory?"

"We're his friends," River said, again looking over at Angel. "We do what the Doctor's friends always do," she picked up the can. " As we're told."

" There's a boat," Rory suddenly said, and Angel looked round and saw he was right. There was a boat close to the shore of the lake. " If we're going to do this...let's do it properly."

* * *

By the time night fell, the Doctor's body was burning in the boat as it floated in the lake. The five of them stood on the shore and watched. Angel was frowning. " Something doesn't feel right," she commented to Rory quietly so then Amy or River wouldn't hear.

Rory looked at her. " What do you mean?"

" He planned this," Angel replied. " Think of it, the envelopes, the meeting in the middle of no where complete with co-ordinates, the lake, the man with the truck and gasoline, and the boat. Doesn't that seem staged to you? Heres another thing, why is it I'm not dead? I may hate the Doctor at the moment, but we're still mated. If one of us dies then the other follows."

Rory thought about what Angel had just said, and he realised Angel was right. It did seem staged. He was about to say something when River pulled up to the man. " Who are you? Why did you come?" she asked, and Angel looked over in their direction curiously.

"Same reason as you," he said, and he pulled an envelope from his pocket. After a moment's hesitation, River pulled out hers and looked at him.

The man smiled at them. " Dr Song... Amy... Rory, and sorry, I don't know who you are?" He asked Angel.

Angel smiled at him. " I'm Angel. Nice to meet you."

The man nodded. " Nice to meet you, too. I'm Canton Everett Delaware III. I won't be seeing you again. But...you'll be seeing me." Without another word, he picked up the can and turned back to his truck.

River watched him go before turning to the others. " Five."

Rory was lost. " Sorry, what?"

River explained, "The Doctor numbered the envelopes."

* * *

The drive back to the diner was quiet, but when they got out River carried on with her explanation. Amy was still in shock. " You got three," River said, "I was five, Mr Delaware was four."

" And I was two." Angel piped up but River didn't look at her.

Rory was still lost. " So?"

Angel got it. "So where's one?"

" You think he invited someone else?"

" Well, he must have. He planned all of this to the last detail."

Angel nodded. " Yeah. The envelopes with the numbers, the meeting in the middle of nowhere, the lake, the astronaut coming out of the water, the gasoline and the timely arrival of Mr. Delaware the third, and the boat. He planned this. He must've known what was going to happen; where to come, when the astronaut was going to emerge. Everything."

River was about to say something but Amy interrupted. "Will you shut up? It doesn't matter."

"He was up to something," River insisted. " What was it?" she asked Angel.

" You're asking me? I haven't seen him in months, not since our baby died." Angel replied. River looked shocked by the admission, but only just because Amy said, " He's dead."

" Space 1969, what did he mean?" River asked.

" You're still talking, but it doesn't matter." Amy said, still numb with shock.

" Hey, it mattered to him." Rory said as he tried to comfort his wife.

" So it matters to us." River finished.

" He's dead." Amy whispered, emphasising the word dead.

" But he still needs us. I know. Amy...I know. But right now we have to focus."

Angel had turned to look away from the others...and her eyes caught another envelope. She nudged Rory and pointed at it. " Another envelope. One's here." She went over to it even as Rory went over to the man at the counter.

" Excuse me, who was sitting over there?" He asked, but the man shrugged in response. "Some guy."

Angel picked up the envelope and opened it. She took a good look at the instructions. " River, Amy, pass me your letters. I want to check something."

Bewildered, both women did as they were told, and waited for Angel to tell them what they'd found. " The co-ordinates in this one is different, the space co-ordinates are identical, but not the time co-ordinates. This one was set for a couple of hours after we originally left the diner. Did you not find it convenient that Mr Delaware arrived at a certain time?"

" What would be the point in that?" Amy asked, now her interest was roused.

River nodded, "The Doctor knew he was going to his death, so he sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?"

" Your friends, people you trust." Rory answered promptly.

River took the envelope from Angel. " Number one. Who did the Doctor trust the most?"

Angel knew the answer to that one as soon as the back door opened and in strolled the Doctor, a straw in his mouth. Amy, River, Angel, and Rory stared at him. He smiled and pointed at them.

When River spoke, Angel found herself in complete agreement with her for a change. "This is cold. Even by your standards, this is cold."

" Not just cold," Angel added. " It's heartless."

No wonder the mating bond didn't kill her when the Doctor died on the shore of the lake. It hadn't been him from her point in their time line, it had been a future version of him.

" Or, "Hello," as people used to say," the Doctor commented.

Angel felt as though her world was compressed. All she could see was a black haze, and the Doctor's smile only made her angrier than she had been before. Her hands crackled as the vortex worked in freeing itself, wanting to get out and cause him pain for what he was going to do.

She was so out of it she didn't even hear what he'd said to Amy.

" Of course I'm OK, I'm always OK," he hugged her though Angel could see he was mystified by her reaction. " I'm the king of OK. Oh, that's a rubbish title, forget that title." He let her go before moving onto Rory. " Rory the Roman, that's a good title. Hello, Rory!" He hugged him before turning to River. " And Dr River Song... Oh, you bad, bad girl, what trouble have you got for me this time?"

River slapped him.

The Doctor's head snapped back. " OK. I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet."

Angel moved forwards, her angry drawing the Doctor's attention. " Yes, it is. And I haven't started yet."

The Doctor gulped. " Why? What've I done?" Then he seemed to see who was in front of him. " Angel? What is it, what have I done?"

Angel held out the note. " Your handwriting," she spat. " Read it."

River tried to get in the way. " No, it's knowledge of the future-"

" Oh, shut up!" No one had ever seen Angel so angry before, not even River. The vortex crackled around her body, and the lights dimmed in the face of her rage. " Stop talking about time and the future as if you know everything. You're not even a Time Lord! We ruled Time. We wrote the rules. Compared to that, you're nothing more than a little monkey in a tree, banging rocks with sticks. Now shut up!" she spat at River before turning back to the stunned Doctor.

" I received this note. Read it." She handed it to him, and he took it to read. After a moment he didn't say a word. " You all received these?" he held up the notes. " They didn't," Angel replied. " They just received co-ordinates, but I received a note that persuaded me to come. Note the sentence _I need your insight,_ you knew." She looked at him in disgust before revealing the vortex manipulator.

" What're you doing?" Rory asked.

" She programming the manipulator," the Doctor replied. " But why?"

Angel stopped what she was doing. " I'm tired of these games. I mated you because I thought you loved me, and naive fool I was, I loved you too, but when you regenerated you became a shallow idiot. Then I lost my baby, and now this. I never see or hear from you again. Stay away from me. I want no part in your life, but I'm not severing the connection between us. I still want to hear your presence in your mind," she went back to programming the manipulator before turning to River. " You want him, you can have him."

She triggered the manipulator but not before catching the Doctor's eye.

It was full of sadness.

Just like how she felt.


	2. Chapter 2

**What if? Angel loses the Baby? Part 2. **

Rory blinked in astonishment, he hadn't expected to see Angel here. " Angel, hi," he said opening the door to let the Time Lady inside. " What're you doing here?"

Angel smiled, genuinely pleased to see her companion. She might not have a TARDIS just yet, it was still growing close to the rift in Cardiff, but that it was a technicality to her. She stepped through into Amy and Rory's home, slipping off her shoes, and basically admiring the decor. It was easy to see Amy and Rory's influence of the place. " Can't I see my companion from time to time?" she asked.

Rory chuckled. " Course it is," he replied wrapping her in a hug. " How have you been?"

Angel pulled away. " Not too bad. I've started the process of growing a new TARDIS from scratch. I should've taken a piece of the Doctor's, but I didn't want to. Partly because it would remind me of him, and secondly because the TARDIS might not have approved." Rory led the Time Lady into the living room whilst Rory went to make themselves something to drink.

" You still haven't forgiven him?" Rory asked as he handed her a mug of tea. Angel's small smile faded at the question as she took the mug.

" No, I haven't. And I can't see myself forgiving him anytime soon. I've had time to think Rory, I should have dragged him to the medical bay in the TARDIS and showed him a baby scan. It might have made him more responsible."

Rory took a sip from his mug, wondering how to tell Angel about Melody. The pain of what his daughter had gone through was too much to bear, but he knew Angel would understand.

Angel read the pain on her companion's face. " What's wrong, Rory?"

Rory sighed. He should've expected that from her. Angel...was intuitive, able to see things other people couldn't, and part of him wondered if the events of Demon's Run would've happened at all if Angel had been there.

" I'm a father now."

Angel blinked. " What?"

" I'm a father," Rory replied. Angel frowned; she didn't understand humans at the best of times, but why was Rory proud and yet...sad about it. No, not sad. Bitter. Something's happened, Angel realised. The baby wasn't dead, it was still alive. But why wasn't it here? She'd been round to Rhys and Gwen's in Cardiff a few times, and their home spoke volumes there was a child there; toys littering the floor, paintings were mounted in frames around the house, and it wasn't just them. Mickey and Martha's little boy had decorated their home with countless pictures, so why was there nothing here? She knew Rory, knew he wanted a family. He would've wanted the place decorated and littered with toys and pictures.

" Rory," she began, " what's happened?"

Rory took a deep breath. " We had our wedding night in the TARDIS," he began, " and a few months later there were signs Amy was pregnant, though she said nothing about it then. Anyway, you noticed Amy was pregnant when we met in Utah."

Angel nodded, not wanting to get into this topic. " What happened?" she repeated.

" After you left, the Doctor had us go through exactly what had happened, why Amy had hugged him like she had seen him die," Angel winced. " Sorry Angel," Rory said. " River tried to get us not to say anything, but after seeing you leave like you had, well lets just say the Doctor was far from his normal self. He lost his temper with River, told her you were right that she knew nothing about time travel.

" His mood grew worse when we took him through the story, especially when he realised we had no choice but to go through with it so we could meet Canton Delaware. He also laid it into River, I can tell you," Rory looked at her grimly. " He could tell she knew something we didn't, and he shouted at her to give us the answers. But all she would say was-"

" Spoilers," Angel finished irritably. She knew.

" Anyway, we went back to 1969..." Angel listened as Rory told her the whole story; how aliens called the Silents dominated the Earth for centuries, manipulating the humans ever since. Angel closed her eyes as she pictured the Doctor's plan about how to eradicate the Silent's influence.

" How was River with the Doctor?" she asked during Rory's description of how the Doctor had manipulated events so that a Silent would be tricked into handing out a telepathic command to the humans to kill them all on sight. It was a good plan in theory, but she was disgusted, and didn't hesitate to show Rory, how she felt about mass genocide. It would've been preferable to force the Silence off Earth, but it was River she wanted to know about; that's what she really wanted to know. She might have her issues with the Doctor, but she still loved him deep down, and he was her Mate and the only other member of her species in the universe, and yet that woman seemed desperate to have him.

Rory looked sheepishly at her. " She tried flirting with him, but the Doctor wouldn't have it. He was furious with her when she tried to rub herself on his back when we cornered the Silence. He pushed her away, saying he had a Mate."

Angel closed her eyes. " That doesn't explain what's happened to your baby, Rory. There aren't any pictures of a baby in this house."

" Amy was kidnapped by the Silents," Rory began heavily. " They knew she was pregnant, knew she was conceived in the TARDIS."

" Why would that matter?"

" The Silence have been trying to kill the Doctor, don't ask me why," Rory replied to her shock and horror. " They seemed to be aware of the number of times others have tried to kill the Doctor, and figured only another Time Lord could kill the Doctor, so they kidnapped my wife and daughter to create a weapon, a Time Lord to kill him."

Angel's eyes popped open. " Let me see if I get this straight," she said, " the Silence found out, somehow, you and Amy had conceived a baby inside the TARDIS, and they kidnapped her from Amy-"

" No," Rory corrected. " They kidnapped Amy when she was pregnant. They kept her in a facility called Demon's Run, putting a duplicate in her place. The Doctor knew the whole time, but he didn't say a word." He finished bitterly. Angel nodded, agreeing with him completely. " But they thought your daughter would be a Time Lord able to kill the Doctor?"

" Yes."

Angel then did something that took Rory by surprise. She laughed.

" What's so funny? Why're you laughing?" Rory asked angrily, shocked and hurt Angel could be cruel.

Angel managed, just, to regain control of herself. " I'm sorry," she choked out. " It's just such a ridiculous concept."

" But, the Doctor said-"

" The Doctor doesn't understand your daughter, by the way what's she called?"

" Melody, but nowadays she goes by a name you know," Rory replied looking awkward.

Angel frowned. " Rory, who is she?" She had a good idea who it was even before Rory opened his mouth.

" River Song." Rory answered.

Angel couldn't believe it. How could River Song be Rory, her sweet companion Rory's daughter? It wasn't possible, but she didn't sense any untruthfulness coming from Rory.

" River is your daughter?" At his nod, she shook her head. " Rory, how she can be your daughter? She's nothing like you. I hate to say it, but she's rude, arrogant, and a host of other things."

Rory nodded. He remembered the only time he'd seen his daughter with Angel, and he hadn't been impressed with the way his daughter had treated the Time Lady. " I know, but its the truth. Why did you say it's a ridiculous concept for River to be a Time Lord?"

Angel sighed and put her tea down. " When you travel through time in a TARDIS, your body soaks up radiation. It's harmless, its like soaking up the energy from the sun. It makes a sort of sense for your daughter to have absorbed a lot more radiation than normal because she was born with it, but it doesn't mean she's a Time Lord."

" How do you mean?" Rory asked in confusion. " She could regenerate, and she has already done it twice-"

" Doesn't mean she's a pure Time Lord," Angel interrupted, wondering what Rory meant by that about River having regenerated twice but found she didn't really care. " Time Lords weren't unique in that sense, other races could do more or less the same thing, but differently. It takes more than just being conceived in the TARDIS to make someone a Time Lord. Our people used a combination of genetic manipulation, temporal energy, and selective evolution to create a being who could sense time and space. River can't do that."

" Then why did the Doctor say she was a Time Lord, then?" Rory asked.

Angel sighed again, cursing the Doctor for not bothering to get all the facts. " Because the amount of temporal energy from the vortex mutated your daughter's DNA, making her more time sensitive. Yes, she can regenerate-"

" She can't anymore," Rory replied. " River poisoned him with lipstick, but when she found out he was a good man, she sacrificed all her remaining lives to cure him."

Angel closed her eyes. Now she knew what it was. A few months ago she'd felt a pain in her chest, in her hearts, but she had known it was nothing to do with her body. It was focused on the mating bond she still had with the Doctor, but then it had faded. It had terrified Martha, Mickey, and the Torchwood team.

Now she knew what it was though she'd known the Doctor was involved.

" I'm...thankful for that, at least," Angel admitted. " But it still doesn't make her a Time Lord. Rory, I grew up amongst TARDISes, I know what I'm talking about. River may have been able to regenerate, but she isn't a Time Lord," Angel sighed as she wondered how many times she would have to repeat herself before she could say it. " The Doctor was wrong, the theory is right but what I said to River about her knowing nothing about time's true enough. River isn't a Time Lord because she knows nothing about what it means to be a Time Lord. She's just an advanced human, that's all. And the Silence have no idea what being a Time Lord means."

* * *

" So what have you been doing since I last saw you?" Rory asked her as he busied himself with dinner; he and Amy had arranged a system, they would take turns cooking dinner for their spouse, and they would do the washing up whilst the other chatted.

" Not much," Angel replied, standing off to the side with her arms folded. " I've been helping Torchwood now and again with the rift, beginning the process of growing a TARDIS for myself. I've felt the occasional feeling from the Doctor, but I've ignored it all."

Possibly for the best. Rory had filled her in on the adventures her Mate had been having; the adventure where they'd found an asteroid which fed off TARDISes was scary, and Angel had been chilled to learn that her family's work, all that time growing and nurturing TARDISes only for them to be eaten alive like that, like animals sent off to the slaughter...She'd been delighted to learn the creature had been killed by the TARDIS matrix.

" Angel?" Rory asked to get her attention. " Yes, Rory?" Angel said.

" Why are you staying in Cardiff? You've mentioned a rift and an adopted brother, but-" he trailed off as he waited for the Time Lady to reply.

" It's more than that," Angel replied. " Because I'm a Time Lady, and it's well known the Doctor survived the Time war. And it's also known he has a Mate. Me. How many races out there, including these Silents, know that? They knew for sure your wife was pregnant, so its more than likely they were thinking of kidnapping me to use my baby to kill its own father, so they had to settle for yours. Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound like it did."

" No, it's okay," Rory replied as he stirred the sauce in the pan. " You were saying about the rift," he said to move away from the painful topic.

" Yeah. With the amount of temporal energy seeping through, and with my connection to the time vortex, I've been able to use it like a forcefield. Some of the Doctor's enemies know I've got it, so they can track it."

" But how can they do that when they can't track you down when you're sitting on top of a rift," Rory realised. Angel grinned. " You're learning."

" But wait," he realised. " This isn't Cardiff, so aren't you in danger?"

That was the problem with knowing the Doctor, those who travelled with him were constantly in danger, but how more so than Angel, his Mate and the only other member of his species still alive?

" I'll be alright," Angel replied. Rory was startled by the lack of concern Angel had for herself. It was as if she no longer cared what happened to herself, which probably wasn't a surprise since she'd lost the baby. " The vortex manipulator," she held up her wrist with the dark strap wrapped around it, " is preprogrammed. I only need to trigger it. Besides I don't often leave Cardiff. Unless someone knows what they're doing, I'm safe."

Rory nodded. He was pleased Angel was taking precautions, but he was worried about her, had been for a long time since the disaster with the Gli. He still couldn't believe the Doctor's cavalier attitude when it came to adventuring; he and Angel were the only members of their kind left in the universe and he was dragging her into danger, seemingly laughing at danger. He'd ignored Angel's warnings and look what the result was. Oh, Rory was delighted the stupid bastard had wised up on the fact Angel was his Mate, but he hated the fact he had to find out the way he had. Rory hadn't been surprised by Angel leaving, of all the people in the TARDIS she'd confided in him when she was crying her eyes out, saying she couldn't forgive him for their baby dying, and Rory couldn't blame her. He was tempted himself to drag Amy out himself, and leave the Doctor to travel on his own for the rest of his miserable life.

Angel seemed to have lost the will to live, and that didn't sit well with him. It wasn't just him either, he'd met Mickey Smith, and to his delight he'd found a kindred spirit. Both men were worried about Angel and wanted nothing more that to beat the crap out of the Doctor for what he'd done.

" Angel," Rory began, " do you think-?" he trailed off when he found he couldn't ask his question.

Fortunately Angel knew what he was about to say. " Do you think I can forgive the Doctor, is that what you were about to say?" At Rory's nod, Angel sighed thoughtfully. She was silent for a moment before she replied. " The Doctor broke my hearts when he forgot about me," she said, " when he flirted and became interested in River Song, they broke a little bit more leaving an aching pain in my hearts. When the baby died because he stepped out of the way of the blow, I felt them shatter. Everyone has their breaking point, Rory. I'm no different. I can forgive so many things, but losing my baby...," Angel closed her eyes in pain. She knew Rory would understand because he'd lost his own child who happened to be the woman Angel loathed the most, all because the other races in the universe were afraid of the Doctor. She wasn't sure how to take that, if they were afraid of him then what about her? How did they view her, her abilities as a precog and a wielder of the vortex? Did they see her as an Angel like her mother had, or did they see her as a monster? The thoughts made Angel more angry with the Doctor than ever. " Everyone has their breaking point, Rory. I'm no different. I nearly lost my mind when I learnt the Cybermen had killed my mother, and I went after a Dalek which murdered my sister. But that child inside me, it represented my future, my permanent future. I'd hoped the knowledge I was pregnant would help jog the Doctor's memory, and I was planning on telling him before we landed on Gli."

Angel walked over to the window, and her earlier thoughts mingled with her present thoughts. " You know, when you told me about how the universe fears the Doctor, I couldn't help but wonder how they saw me. My mother called me her angel, so I chose the name. I've tried to live by it ever since. Time Lord names, they're like a promise. How does everyone out there see me, the Mate of the Doctor, an angel who helps, or a monster?"

Rory breathed. " How can you think that?" He walked over to her, and turned her around gently. " You're not a monster. Me, Mickey-"

" Mickey?" Angel interrupted with a smile of joy. " You've met him?"

Rory nodded, smiling too. " Yeah. When you said I'd like him, you were right."

Angel smiled wider at that.

" What is she doing here?" An angry voice interrupted their moment, and they both turned. Amy was standing there angrily, glaring at Angel. The Time Lady frowned, wondering what she'd done to Amy to warrant this. Then she realised; River, their baby. Angel suddenly understood, Amy was angry because the child she'd carried had been taken from her, raised to be a partial Time Lord psychopath. Instead of feeling anger for the accusation which was unspoken Angel felt sympathy for her, knowing what it felt like to lose someone or something you loved. Amy was far from alone there.

It didn't mean she had to take it, though. Angel had changed a great deal since Amy had seen her last, and with this new threat of the Silence and their vendetta against the Doctor, Angel was in no mood to be attacked, used, threatened, or kidnapped. Her power of the vortex had been strengthened by her time in Cardiff, and she'd taken to watching things like Charmed, Star Wars, Merlin, and Harry Potter as tips to find a way to control her powers. She wasn't planning on taking down a Dalek battlefleet but that didn't mean she couldn't defend herself. Without the Doctor, she felt she needed it.

She wasn't going to let Amy threaten her either.

" I was visiting Rory, you remember my pilot, right?" Angel asked, standing away from Amy. She flushed vortex energy through her body, preparing herself for anything.

Amy scowled. Rory frowned at her. " Amy, what's wrong?"

" It's her fault," his wife replied in a whisper.

" What is?" Rory asked confused, stunned by the fury...the hatred in Amy's voice. What had Angel done to her recently?

Angel sighed when she realised Amy wasn't going to reply. " She's blaming me for what happened with her and your daughter, Rory," she sighed, " she thinks my baby should have been taken instead."

" What?" Rory looked at the Time Lady in shock before turning to Amy. She was unrepentant. " Why are you even thinking that Amy?"

" Because we'd be raising our baby, our daughter. Instead she's in prison because of her-" Amy's tirade was stopped thankfully when Angel wished her to be quiet. Surprised by how well it had worked, she stepped forwards placatingly. " Amy, I'm so sorry. I had nothing to do with your kidnap. I really didn't. I've been working hard to forget what the Doctor did to me. He did this, Amy, but not intentionally. His name means he helps people, but some don't seem to grasp that.

" Yes, River is paying for it," Angel didn't add that she hoped the woman was suffering. It wasn't in her nature to wish someone pain, but when it came to these Silence, Daleks, Cybermen, and River Song, she thought differently. " But its not my fault. My baby died a long time before yours was taken from you."

She had to get out of there. She felt stiffled. Amy was sobbing her heart out, the pain and realisation was on her face, but Angel wasn't going to stay there. Rory was crying as well, but Angel knew she was too much of a coward to fight back, she was tired of this.

She sighed as she pressed the vortex manipulator. She wasn't going to fight anymore with Amy or Rory, and she didn't want to listen anymore to what the two humans had to say.

It was the end of another day at Torchwood, another day of monitoring the rift manipulator. Angel sighed as she picked up her things, and after exchanging goodbyes with Tosh, Owen, Jack, Gwen, Ianto and Gray, she left the base. She knew the other members of Torchwood were worried about her despite her assurances. What she'd told the Doctor, the future Doctor, months ago about Jack wanting to come and beat him up was true, but what she hadn't said was he wasn't alone. Nearly everyone she knew - Mickey, Donna, to name a few others, had wanted to come with her when that damn envelope had arrived, and make the Doctor pay.

It had been tempting, a part of her had to admit, but that wasn't who Angel was. Angel had declined, and had gone on her own, but when she'd come back and told the others what had happened she almost had wished she'd taken some of them with her. Jack had been furious, and none of the others had been any better. She only hoped the Doctor had the sense not to come to Cardiff, he wouldn't get a warm welcome if he did.

Angel opened her flat, and stepped inside. She had to grin everytime she came in here. When she'd first come here she'd spent months with the help of Jack and her friends in making this place a perfect home for her. Course there was no home better than a TARDIS, but this flat was beautiful in its way. Unlike Gwen and Rhys's utilitarian flat, Angel's was like walking into a library/living room/ conservatory/ kitchen/bathroom the size of a swimming pool.

With the help of Time Lord dimensional engineering, she'd made this flat three time larger on the inside than the outside in places, with the exception of the room where new TARDIS was growing. Because of their multidimensional nature, a TARDIS could not exist within another TARDIS unless there was a sufficient change in the dimensional frequency. A normal Time Lord or Lady would adjust the frequency and work from it from there, they would also need a good few centuries or decades or so before a TARDIS could be grown to working size.

But Angel wasn't a normal Time Lady, and for the first time in decades she was pleased about that. There were tricks to growing a TARDIS without having to wait too long.

The multidimensional flat had been part of her plan. She would have preferred to wait for centuries as she grew the TARDIS, and at first she'd gone through with that plan before realising it wouldn't work even with the rift. It was like pouring droplets of water onto a plant, the leaves would still be brown and in some cases brittle. Being a TARDIS farmer, the last TARDIS farmer, Angel had seen quickly what she was doing wrong; her desire to be alone for so long with only Jack for company...It wasn't right, her new TARDIS might be flawed. On Gallifrey the TARDIS farms were partly dimensional pockets, because dimensional pockets could soak up energy from the Eye of Harmony, and channel that into TARDISes that were growing. It had taken hundreds of years for the first TARDIS to be grown before somebody had had the idea, but it had worked so well it was a standard form of TARDIS growing. It worked both ways of course, and Angel knew the techniques, but she'd opted for the slow path at first so she would be over her baby's death. She'd decided against it when she'd realised she was being cruel to herself and her friends.

So she'd used her knowledge of dimensional engineering to create a lens for the rift energy, and grow the TARDIS. The dimensional pocket she'd created would absorb the energy from the rift, and channel it into the new TARDIS, and grow it from there.

Angel admitted to herself she would like to see the Doctor come up with something like this, but she pushed that thought away from her mind as she checked on the TARDIS.

The room where the TARDIS was being grown was empty of everything except a small chunk of what looked like coral. TARDISes were grown from the universe itself, but this one was different. It was the first TARDIS grown without the aid of the Eye of Harmony, and as Angel looked at it she couldn't help but worry that the loss of the Eye would be an issue for the TARDIS. It was one of her greatest fears, that she wasn't channeling enough energy into her new ship, but her fears were unfounded. The TARDIS was growing rapidly.

Soon she'd be able to check out the temporal and spatial dimensions.

* * *

As Angel settled down to eat some dinner, she considered everything. Her visit to Rory, the revelation about River, the knowledge people wanted to kill the Doctor out of fear, it made her worry about her own wellbeing. She knew Jack would protect her, but she wasn't stupid. If this Silence knew about him they would almost certainly know about her. Angel frowned as she remembered telling Jack about the Silence. Being a former Time agent from the 51st century was a wonder sometimes, but Jack had only heard whispers about the Silence, but enough to tell her they were a religious order, the sentinels of history. Angel had been worried when she'd heard that part; the only race to deserve that title was now dead. Rory had given her a lot of information about the Silence, but Angel wondered if she should meddle in their affairs or not.

That was the Doctor's repertoire, not hers.

There was a chime, making Angel sit up with a start before moving quickly to the small device she'd rigged up, using the Doctor's TARDIS key as a detector thanks to the sensitivity of the temporal rift.

The Doctor was here.

Angel clenched her jaw, the detector was supposed to glow brightly when the TARDIS was in close proximity. And it was, the TARDIS was materialising outside her flat. The dimensional pocket she'd set up was good for protecting her, but it also stopped uninvited guests. One of them was outside her door.

Sighing, Angel realised there was no other thing for it but to talk to him. She checked the alarm button which would send word to Jack if she needed help, she hoped she wouldn't need it.

By the time she arrived at the door the sound of the TARDIS materialising was fading. Angel folded her arms as she opened the door with it still on a chain, she wasn't letting him inside her flat.

* * *

The Doctor's face was pale when he saw her, and she knew by looking at him he was older now than when he last saw him in America.

" How long?" she asked him.

The Doctor sighed, knowing what she was asking. It was clear he wanted to come inside, but Angel wasn't in the mood to speak to him. She wanted nothing to do with the manipulative, uncaring Time Lord. Not anymore. " 200 years," he whispered. " I've come full circle."

Angel quirked a brow. " I met with Rory, and Amy briefly," she told him. " Rory told me the truth about River, about what the Silence are trying to use her as. Another child's life you destroyed, though I'm envious of them," she added, " you didn't kill their child."

The Doctor winced, and tears started trickling down his face. " That's what I'm doing," he said, " going on a farewell tour of the universe-"

" I don't care," Angel interrupted sharply. " I carried our child even when you forgot about me, and you started fawning over River. There were times I was on the verge of leaving you, and raise our child on my own."

The Doctor closed his eyes, and looked left and right. " Can I come in?" he asked hesitantly. He didn't want to say what he'd come to say in an open hallway where anyone could hear him. But Angel wasn't in the mood, gone were the days where she was a pushover. She'd had to grow up out of her innocence, cosy as it had been.

" No," she answered levelly. " Just say what you've come to say, and go away. Go back to your fantasy land where you can do no wrong, where you think you can say whatever you like to aliens who have strict taboos, like the Gli. Remember them, remember what you said to them, and you stepped out of the way, uncaring about whether or not me, Rory, or Amy could just be standing behind you when you so thoughtfully stepped out of the way?"

The Doctor stood there. There was nothing he could say, not even the famous Time Lord talent of having the right words to say to get himself out of trouble, because Angel was right. He'd had been careless, he'd insulted an alien species, and Angel and their child had paid the price. He'd hated himself ever since.

Angel watched him, knowing what thoughts were running through his head. But she was getting impatient. " Get to the point, Doctor," she snapped.

" Where do I begin?" the Doctor asked rhetorically. " When I found out, remembered...I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe I'd forgotten you. I hated myself for being responsible for our child's death, your sobs ripped my hearts to pieces-

" Good," Angel interrupted.

The Doctor took a deep breath, and kept talking. " But when I kept trying to see you, your screams when you saw me hurt even more. How could I do that to you, my Mate?"

Angel shook her head. She knew the Doctor still loved, and she still loved him. But as far as she was concerned it was over between them, he'd hurt her needlessly, spited her for a full hellish year, forced her watch as he became interested in River, then forced her to go through the pain of miscarriage. Getting away from him had done wonders for her, especially since Jack wouldn't let someone as selfish and cruel as River Song hurt her, but when she'd gotten that letter, Jack had urged her to go because it might mend things. Angel loved Jack's optimism, but when she'd seen the Doctor's death, all neatly arranged, she'd felt sick. He'd done it again, manipulating the situation, and forcing her to watch. Did the man not know how much it hurt?

" Rory told me about what happened after I left," she said quietly. " How you implanted a telepathic command to wipe the Silence out on sight. I can't even muster the words to describe how disgusted I was when I heard that, despite it liberating the human race. The man I thought I loved, the man I thought valued life more than anything," she shook her head sadly as if shaking off a wonderful dream, " he never existed, did he? I think you said enough, Doctor. Now go to Lake Silencio, and get yourself killed. I'll join you afterwards."

And Angel closed the door in the startled Time Lords face. She took a deep breath, and walked off. If she was right then the Doctor would find a way to survive...


End file.
